FieldData Pro, Inc. provides an extremely versatile mobile data collection solution. It is used by facilities to manage data for tasks such as Operator Rounds, eyewash testing, RCRA tank inspections and fume hood readings. FDP's mobile application syncs with their easy-to-use web application to make managing data effortless. For more info visit www.fielddatapro.com, email us at info@fielddatapro.com or call us at (919) 323 3703.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Section 1910.36 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires among the other things: In every building or structure equipped for artificial illumination adequate and reliable illumination shall be provided for all exit facilities.

This section includes provisions for equipment that must be tested manually as well as self-testing / self-diagnostic equipment. For equipment that requires manual testing, a functional test shall be conducted on every required emergency lighting system at 30-day intervals for a minimum of 30 seconds. An annual test shall be conducted for the 1-1/2 hour duration. Equipment shall be fully operational for the duration of the test. Written records of visual inspections and tests shall be kept by the owner for inspection by the authority having jurisdiction."

It has been our experience that the primary failure mode for emergency lights involves the batteries. The minimum 30 second test duration is important because many times a light with bad batteries will illuminate initially when the test button is pressed, but fail within 30 seconds. Also, the focus of the 1-1/2 hour annual test is to determine if your batteries are strong enough to illuminate during an extended emergency period.

Frequency

As described in the paragraph above, 30 second functional testing shall be conducted at 30 day intervals.

Functional testing shall be conducted monthly with a minimum of 3 weeks and a maximum of 5 weeks between tests.

1-1/2 hour duration testing shall be conducted annually.

Testing Instructions

The following is an example of how the task instructions may be written in your computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Visually inspect emergency light for signs of damage.

Press test button and hold for 30 seconds.

Verify that emergency light illuminates for entire time test button is pressed.

It should take less than 1 minute to actually conduct a monthly functional test. However, the following must be considered when estimating labor time requirements for conducting monthly testing:

Labor estimates should include travel time to each emergency light.

In our experience, 5 minutes per emergency light, including travel time, is a good initial estimate for most commercial buildings. This estimate can be refined using actual data after the testing has been conducted a few times.

If a step ladder is required the labor estimates will need to be higher than with no step ladder.

Emergency light testing may also be combined with Lighted Exit Sign testing, which has very similar requirements.

Some organizations assign this testing to electricians, however it can be conducted by any conscientious employee who has been trained to perform the testing correctly.

Recording Test Results Using FieldDataPro

Managing the testing of emergency lights scattered around a large facility or campus can be challenging. FieldDataPro can help you use barcode technology to track when each unit is inspected and more importantly, identify units that are not inspected or have deficiencies that need to be corrected.

When collecting emergency light test data with FieldDataPro you can use either the Detailed method or the Pass/Fail method. Either method makes effective management of the testing easy and eliminates paperwork and manual record keeping.

With the Detailed method, the tester records the status of each inspection point for each unit as shown in the image below.

With the Pass/Fail method, the tester creates a timestamped record indicating that the device was tested, and whether it passed inspection or was found to have deficiencies.

For a more detailed description of how FieldDataPro can help you manage Safety Inspection data, see this blog post (how it works).

Thursday, April 26, 2012

In a June 20, 2011 news release, the US Department of Labor OSHA announced that they had cited Spears Mattress Co. in Rome, Ga for 14 serious safety violations. Penalties totaled $45,850.

The violations included improper storage of oxygen and acetylene compressed gas cylinders, fire extinguishers not mounted or identified, a malfunctioning emergency exit sign, walking and storage areas cluttered with flammables and heavy equipment, missing machine guards on equipment, a drill press that was not secured to prevent movement during operation, improperly adjusted bench grinders and allowing an employee to operate a forklift with non functioning emergency brakes. There were also several electrical code violations identified.

One of the things that a Facility Manager may find significant with this story is that it was a pop-in inspection by OSHA. There is a belief that OSHA only shows up after an incident, but that was not the case here. OSHA began this inspection as part of its Site-Specific Targeting Program, which focuses enforcement efforts on industries that report higher-than-average injury rates.

It has been this author's experience from participating (as a facility owner) in OSHA and EPA audits, that having your documentation in order is an absolute necessity for surviving these audits.

Three of the findings that this manufacturer was cited for were things that should be on periodic safety equipment inspections. These include forklifts (daily or at the beginning of each shift), fire extinguishers (monthly) and Emergency Exit Signs (monthly).

Forklifts inspections are typically documented using logbooks stored on the forklift. A great source for forklift logbooks (or any other type of logbook) is http://www.logbooks.com/. These inspections can also be documented using FDPMobile our handheld data collection software.

Managing inspections of safety devices that are spread out around a facility, such as emergency lights, lighted exit signs, fire extinguishers and eyewash safety showers is made very easy by using a mobile software like FDPMobile. Inspection results are entered into the mobile device at the time of the inspection, then uploaded to an easy to use web application, where missed inspections or deficiencies that were identified during inspections can be easily tracked. To see a case study of how the FieldDataPro solution is used to manage safety inspections follow the link below.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Section 1910.36 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires among other things: In every building or structure equipped for artificial illumination adequate and reliable illumination shall be provided for all exit facilities.

"7.10.9.1 Inspection. Exit signs shall be visually inspected for operation of the illumination sources at intervals not to exceed 30 days or shall be periodically monitored in accordance with 7.9.3.1.3 (7.9.3.1.3 discusses both manual testing of lighting as well as self-testing / self-diagnostic equipment)."

Section 7.10.9.2 of NFPA 101 dictates that exit signs with battery backup be tested monthly following the same standards as applied to emergency lighting, which are described in Section 7.9.3.

Section 7.9.3 of NFPA 101 requires that a functional test be conducted on this equipment at 30-day intervals for a minimum of 30 seconds. An annual test shall be conducted for the 1-1/2 hour duration. Equipment shall be fully operational for the duration of the test. Written records of visual inspections and tests shall be kept by the owner for inspection by the authority having jurisdiction.

It has been our experience that the primary failure mode for emergency lights involves the batteries. The minimum 30 second test duration is important because many times a light with bad batteries will illuminate initially when the test button is pressed, but fail within 30 seconds. Also, the focus of the 1-1/2 hour annual test is to determine if your batteries are strong enough to illuminate during an extended emergency period.

Frequency

Functional testing shall be conducted monthly with a minimum of 3 weeks and a maximum of 5 weeks between tests.

1-1/2 hour duration testing shall be conducted annually.

Testing Instructions

The following is an example of how the task instructions may be written in your computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

It should take less than 1 minute to actually conduct a monthly functional test. However, the following must be considered when estimating labor time requirements for conducting monthly testing:

Labor estimates should include travel time to each exit sign.

In our experience, 5 minutes per exit sign, including travel time, is a good initial estimate for most commercial buildings. This estimate can be refined using actual data after the testing has been conducted a few times.

If a step ladder is required the labor estimates will need to be higher than with no step ladder.

Emergency light testing may also be combined with emergency light testing, which has very similar requirements.

Some organizations assign this testing to electricians, however it may be conducted by any conscientious employee who has been trained to perform the testing correctly.

Recording Test Results Using FieldDataPro

Managing the testing of safety devices scattered around a large facility or campus can be challenging. FieldDataPro can help you use barcode technology to track when each unit is inspected and more importantly, identify units that are not inspected or have deficiencies that need to be corrected.

When collecting lighted exit sign test data with FieldDataPro you can use either the Detailed method or the Pass/Fail method. Either method makes effective management of the testing easy and eliminates paperwork and manual record keeping.

With the Detailed method, the tester records the status of each inspection point for each unit as shown in the image below.

With the Pass/Fail method, the tester creates a timestamped record indicating that the device was tested, and whether it passed inspection or was found to have deficiencies.

For a more detailed description of how FieldDataPro can help you manage Safety Inspection data, see this blog post (how it works).

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Establish criteria for each reading that defines what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

Ensure that each reading is compared to the acceptance criteria (high and low limits) each time it is recorded.

Define what should be done if any out of limits conditions are discovered.

FDPMobile is a mobile application that helps Plant Operators collect data and troubleshoot problems they may find during their inspections.

In FDPMobile, for each data collection point you may establish acceptance criteria in the form of high and low limits.

High and Low Limits are displayed to Operator. All data entered is automatically compared to the limits set up for the data point.

For each data collection point you may establish up to four condition based messages﻿ that will be displayed to the Operator if data is entered that is outside high or low limits for that data point. These messages are customizable and can include instructions that you would like the Operator to follow when they find things that are not the way they ought to be.

When we work with clients to implement FDPMobile and FDP Plant (the web application that works with the mobile application), we are often asked what should the content of the error messages should be. We respond by telling them to imagine themselves as a Plant Engineer receiving a phone call at 2:00 AM from an Operator who just encountered a problem on a very critical system. What three steps would you ask them to take while they are waiting for you to get dressed and get to the plant.

By putting this information at the Operators fingertips while they are in performing their rounds we are enabling them to solve problems quickly and safely.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Our customers can now build ad hoc charts to easily analyze the readings collected by their plant operators.

With a few simple clicks you can analyze your data over time. Any number of Points of Interest may be trended against each other so you can see how the variables interact with each other.

Each chart is summarized with a table that details the average, min , max and count of each Point of Interest included in the chart. These charts are easily exported for inclusion in reports, emails or other documents.

FDPChart is now a standard feature of the FieldData Pro data management solution.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Almost once a week I find myself troubleshooting a problem with a water system. The majority of the times I am using pressure gauge readings as part of the troubleshooting. I have learned the hard way to be very skeptical of the accuracy of pressure gauges installed in the field. I estimate that 30% of the gauges I have encountered in the field are not accurate.

Often times the gauges I find to be inaccurate are the same ones that our plant operators record each day during their Operator Rounds. This puts into question the accuracy of much of the historical data for that gauge reading.

It is very good practice to verify the accuracy of your pressure gauges at least annually. Verifying the accuracy of gauges attached to a pump could be made part of the PM tasks for that pump.

The level of accuracy you require is up to the user. It can range from a quick check to verify that the gauge is functional and returns to zero when all pressure is removed. Or you may require the gauge to be accurate to within tenths of a pound using a test pump and an electronic calibrator like a Beamex.

Once you have verified its accuracy you should put a dated sticker on the back of the gauge to show when it was last tested.

Periodically verifying the accuracy of your pressure gauges will help ensure your operators have accurate data when troubleshooting or assessing the performance of your power plant or process system.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Plant operations professionals are routinely faced with the decision of whether to add a data point to the plant monitoring system (SCADA, BAS, etc) or add it to the Operator Rounds. For example, a manufacturing plant has been having trouble with a cooling tower pump periodically losing prime. To help troubleshoot the problem, they decide to start tracking the suction pressure of the pump. They can either add the pressure to the Operator Rounds, or add instrumentation to add it as a point to the plant SCADA system.

There are a number of factors to consider in each of these decisions. These include:

How critical is the data point?
What are the consequences if this data point goes out of spec?
Is continuous monitoring with out of spec alarming required?
Or is it a data point that if it goes out of spec for a few days will not cause costly damage?

These are very important questions and are the basis of processes like Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). This article does not address these questions.

This article addresses determining the cost of the SCADA vs Operator Rounds options. These decisions should always be business decisions, where a cost / benefit analysis is performed of each option then used to help select the option that is best for the plant.

It is our opinion that the costs of both of these options are routinely under-estimated. I hope this article helps you make accurate cost estimates that are useful in making the right decision.What Goes Into the Cost of Adding a New Point to SCADA System

For this example we will be adding a pressure sensor to the suction side of the cooling tower pump. Our plant uses a SCADA system to monitor critical system. Field devices send their signals back to the SCADA server using a plant Ethernet system. The following are items that may go into the cost of installing a new data point to a SCADA system:

Cost of the measurement device. In this example we are adding an pressure transmitter ($350 - $3,000 depending on your plants requirements).

Wire and conduit to get the signal from the measuring device to the sending device ($200 to $500).

Power wiring for the measuring device (if needed) ($200 - $500)

Cost of the sending device (if needed). If we have a PLC nearby with an available I/O then we are in luck. If not we will need to add either a PLC ($1500) or Remote I/O module with Ethernet connection($300).

Wire and conduit to get from sending device to Ethernet drop (if needed). ($800 - $1500)

Power wiring for the measuring device (if needed) ($200 - $500)

Configure new data point in SCADA system. Assume it will take in house person 1 hour (if you have one) to add the point and configure the low and high limits ($50), contractor ($250).

Add new data point to graphic screen in SCADA system. Again in house ($50), contractor ($250).

Miscellaneous engineering costs. Include 4-6 hours for selecting and procuring the correct measurement device, selecting and procuring the correct sending device, routing power and communication wiring, establishing high and low limits and implementing response protocols. ($300)

The costs quoted above are very rough estimates. Actual costs will vary at each plant. But at the very least, each of those items listed should be considered when calculating your costs for adding a point to a SCADA system.

What Goes Into the Cost of Adding a New Point to Operator Rounds

There are costs associated with adding a data point to Operators Rounds. This is true whether your operators use a clipboard and pencil or handheld data collection software like FDPMobile(http://tinyurl.com/3qykyvb) to record their readings.

These costs include:

Add new data point to paper log sheet or to handheld data collection software like FDPMobile. Assume it will take an in house person 1 hour to setup the new point and, if using paper log sheets, publish the new log sheet ($50).

Operator labor time required to collect the data. This cost can vary greatly depending on frequency of data collection and location. If you can add the reading to an established set of Operator Rounds and the new point is along the route then you may consider the costs to be negligible. If this new data point can not be added to an existing set of Operator Rounds then you need to quantify the labor hours required to collect this data. In an extreme example, if the pressure gauge is in a confined space that requires 1.5 labor hours to do a confined space entry each time you read it, it could cost thousands of dollars per year to get this data.

Just like with the SCADA system, the cost of adding a data point to Operators Readings varies greatly depending on the application and the specific plant.

Conclusion

When plant operations professionals are deciding whether to add a data point to a SCADA system or to plant Operator Rounds installation and on-going costs should be considered.

Adding a point to a SCADA system can cost from just over $1000 to over $10,000, but with continuous monitoring and alarming capability can greatly improve the reliability of the system.

Adding a point to Operator Rounds can range in cost from $50 to several thousand dollars per year. When added to a well designed Operator Rounds program, the new data point can add to the plant operator's knowledge base and improve his or her ability to identify and correct potential problems.

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Our software solution, which includes mobile data collection software FDPMobile and web application FDP Plant, was designed by plant operators to solve some of the challenges faced daily by operators. It is designed to be complementary to any SCADA system. If you would like more information please visit us at http://www.fielddatapro.com/ or email info@fielddatapro.com .

About Me

FieldData Pro, Inc. helps facilities operate in a safer and more reliable manner by helping them manage their data better.
For more info visit www.fielddatapro.com
email us at info@fielddatapro.com
call us at (919) 323 3703